AN ALLEGED real-life stalker in Baby Reindeer last night admitted to having four mobile phones and six email addresses — but denied ever stalking the show’s creator.
Law graduate Fiona Harvey, 58 – who is said to have inspired the Netflix drama – accused Richard Gadd of being a “psychotic misogynist” whose hit series is “completely untrue”.
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Fiona Harvey said she won’t watch Baby ReindeerCredit: Piers Morgan Uncensored
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The Scottish lawyer was a guest on Piers Morgan UncensoredCredit: Piers Morgan Uncensored
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Fiona reacts to clip of baby reindeer Credit: Piers Morgan Uncensored
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Fiona Harvey was grilled by Piers Morgan in her first TV interview Credit: Instagram/@piersmorgan
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She told of the horrific abuse she had suffered since the “detectives” found her, including death threats.
And in a no-holds-barred interview with Piers Morgan, Fiona vowed to sue Netflix and Gadd, 34, for their “defamatory” portrayal of her as Martha.
The seven-part film, written and starring Gadd, sees bartender Donny Dunn stalked by a Scottish woman named Martha after he gives her a free cup of sympathy tea.
Donny, also a part-time comedian, is bombarded by Martha with thousands of poorly written e-mails relentlessly harassing him while performing stand-up and attacking his girlfriend.
It comes as…
Martha – played by actress Jessica Gunning, 38 – ends up being jailed for stalking and harassment in the show, which opens each episode with the words: “This is a true story.”
And Fiona got in on the act last night, sensationally accusing Gadd of being obsessed with her after they met in real life at the Hawley Arms pub in north London.
In stark contrast to the events of Baby Reindeer, she tells Piers that he tried to sleep with her, but “I gave him a lot of time, I don’t like idle boys”.
The drama has become one of Netflix’s most-watched series of all time since its release on April 11, with more than 22 million views worldwide.
I WON’T watch Netflix’s Baby Reindeer because I think I’d be sick – it’s horrible, misogynistic and has taken over my life, Fiona tells Harvey Piers
Scotsman Fiona was quickly posted online as “Martha” and last night called it “highly defamatory, career-damaging”.
She told Piers on his Uncensored YouTube show: “On the internet I’ve been stalked and hounded by detectives and threatened with death. I was forced into this situation.”
She described the abuse as “absolutely horrific”, adding of Gadd: “I couldn’t believe he did that. So, long after the first meeting, we are talking ten or 12 years ago. I think he has extreme psychiatric problems. It is a work of fiction.”
She adds: “I’m not a stalker. This is complete nonsense.”
When asked if she would initiate legal proceedings, she replied: “Absolutely. Both against him and against Netflix.”
She said: “There are two true facts in the show — his name is Richard Gadd and he works as a barman at the Hawley Arms. And we met two or three times.”
Asked by Piers if Gadd had offered her a free cup of tea in the pub, Fiona said: “No, that’s not true. He didn’t offer me a cup of tea. I was there for lunch.”
She claimed that Gadd actually intruded on a conversation she was having with someone else in the pub.
Fiona told Piers: “He hung up. He said, ‘Oh, you’re Scottish’ and basically commanded the conversation. I was talking to someone. It’s quite rich. He seemed obsessed with me from that moment on.”
However, Fiona admitted that she said Gadd looked like “a baby reindeer”, which Martha does, as it resembled a toy she had as a child.
She said: “I had a toy reindeer and he shaved his head, it’s true, and there were reindeer in the shops because it was Christmas. It was a joke, so I accidentally wrote the name of the show.”
She also claimed that Gadd actually tried to sleep with her – using lewd allusions common at the Hawley Arms, which has been haunted by stars including singer Amy Winehouse.
Fiona told Piers: “He asked me to sleep with him. He said, ‘Do I want to mend the curtains’?
“I laughed and said, ‘That’s an understatement, do you want me to go home with you?’ I said, ‘I have a boyfriend’. I gave him a lot of time – I don’t like idle boys. I think he makes money from untrue facts. He was the ultimate misogynist.”
The opening of the first episode of Baby Reindeer shows Donny desperately walking into a police station and showing the officer in disbelief a series of messages — often poorly written — on his phone.
Fiona scoffed at claims he received 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 48 Facebook messages and 106 letters.
She said: “That’s just not true. If someone sent 41,000 e-mails to someone, how many would they send per day? A lots of.”
Piers asked her, “What did you send?” Fiona replied: “I think there may have been a few emails but that was it. Just funny emails.”
Fiona – who said she would take a lie detector test – denied sending any messages or Facebook messages.
She admitted to contacting Gadd on Twitter, but added: “It wasn’t much. It’s 18 tweets.”
Pressed again by Piers via email, Fiona insisted she had sent “a handful”, “less than ten”.
What Fiona claims is true in the Baby Reindeer saga
Fiona Harvey – who claims to be the inspiration for the Baby Reindeer character Martha – says there’s only one thing that’s true about the Netflix series.
The seven-part series, which premiered last month, was written by comedian Richard Gadd and is said to be based on his personal experiences of being stalked and sexually assaulted.
Gadd, 34, plays a fictionalized version of himself – Donnie Dunn – but Harvey, who was ‘outed’ by internet sleuths hours after the show was set, is adamant the story is “completely untrue”.
The 58-year-old law graduate said: “It’s a work of hyperbole, as I’ve always said. And there are two true facts about it. His name is Richard Gadd, and he works as a waiter on benefits, at the Hawley Arms and we met, two or three times…”
On whether she said it looked like a ‘baby reindeer’ toy she had as a child, she added: “I had a toy reindeer and he shaved his head, that’s true, and there were reindeer in the shops because it was Christmas time or something . That was a joke.
“So I accidentally wrote the name of the show.”
Fiona – who is accused of stalking and sending death threats to Laura Wray, the Labor MP’s widow – also admitted writing the letter to Gadd.
Asked how he could have gotten a voicemail from her, she said: “The only explanation would be (from) recording me at the Hawley Arms. It’s the only place we’ve ever met.”
She admitted that at one point she kept four phones and six e-mail addresses.
But asked who sent Gadd the mountains of correspondence, Fiona said: “I have no idea. I think he probably made that up himself.”
Piers also wondered if Fiona ever pestered Gadd on the comedy show or attacked his girlfriend in a jealous rage – as shown on TV.
But she said: “I think I went to one (play). I generally don’t go to comedy shows. I don’t think he had a girlfriend. I think he is, say, gay. No, I’ve never been to his house or assaulted any girl or anything like that.”
Fiona also denied sitting at the bus stop for hours in an attempt to follow Gadd, as Martha did.
She added: “I don’t know where he lived. This is a fictional character. It’s based on his imagination.”
Piers repeatedly questioned whether the nine-month prison sentence in the drama reflected reality.
But she said: “That is completely untrue. Very defamatory of me, very damaging to my career. I wanted to completely kill that in this show.
“I haven’t been in jail, I don’t have any bans.”
In interviews, Gadd spoke of feeling sorry for his tormentor, adding, “I’ve never seen anyone who’s a villain.”
But Fiona said she didn’t believe him – and she hadn’t been contacted by Gadd or Netflix.
She told Piers: “I had no excuse for someone saying they felt sorry for me. And I have a Martha character who seems to have broken up a bar, sexually assaulted him in a canal, been in jail.
“That’s not true. You should look a little closer to home, to yourself as someone who needs help.”
She said that the actress who plays Marta doesn’t look like her. Fiona told Piers: “I don’t think the actress sounds like me. People compare me to Lorraine Kelly.
“We all happen to have dark hair and are Scottish. The actress is from Glasgow, I mean, I’m from central Scotland.”
She said she is currently in a five-year relationship with a lawyer who thinks the consequences of Baby Reindeer are “terrible”.
But she insisted she didn’t want to “draw him into it”.
Netflix insisted it was careful to hide Martha’s identity.
Policy chief Benjamin King told MPs that Netflix and Clerkenwell Films – which made the series – had taken “all reasonable precautions to conceal the real identities of the people involved in the story”.
He added: “Ultimately, it’s obviously very difficult to control what viewers do, especially in a world where everything is amplified by social media. I personally wouldn’t be comfortable in a world where we decided it was better to silence Richard and not let him tell the story.”
- FOR the full interview go to the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/PiersMorganUncensored
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Harvey was ‘stalked’ by internet sleuths hours after the show was uploaded Credit: Instagram
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Richard Gadd as Donny and Jessica Gunning as Martha in the Netflix series Credit: Ed Miller/Netflix
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The series jumped to the top spot of Netflix’s most watched series after its premiere in April
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn